Wheat procurement in Haryana at record 73.13 LT

Wheat procurement in Haryana has touched an all-time high of 73.13 lakh tonnes this season on the back of a bumper crop.

With wheat arriving in huge quantities, Haryana is anticipating that the total wheat procurement could even reach an "unthinkable" level of 80 lakh tonnes, an official of Haryana food and supply department said here.

The record wheat collection poses a serious challenge of storage to the state authorities. With storage facilities overflowing, the administration fears that they would have to keep a considerable quantity in the open, exposing them to the vagaries of weather in the coming monsoon season.

Haryana has been demanding speedy movement of food grains to other states in order to make space in godowns.

The procurement so far is up by 23% over the 59.44 lakh tonnes during corresponding period last season, the official said.

Before the start of lifting, the Haryana government had made arrangement for procuring 70 lakh tonnes of wheat during the current rabi marketing season.

The daily arrival of the crop is still in the range of 2 lakh tonnes, indicating that the state was heading for a bumper output, the official added.

Haryana, which contributes 30% of crop to the central kitty, has pegged its wheat production at 118.61 lakh tonnes, raised on 25.05 lakh hectares.

The state has covered capacity of 48.79 lakh tonnes while covered area plinth (CAP) is 30 lakh tonnes. To augment the storage capacity, the Centre has allocated creation of new capacities to store another 39 lakh tonnes.